Fabric treatment devices which are used to remove odors and wrinkles from clothing are known. These devices can generally be split into two categories, steam generating devices and fluid dispensing devices which wet the fabrics with water, chemical compositions, or combinations thereof. Devices of both categories typically wet the fabric with steam or the fluid, then subject the wetted fabric with heat and circulating air to allow the fabric to be dried, thereby decreasing any odors and wrinkles. Despite the many attempts to provide convenient stand alone devices for deodorizing and dewrinkling clothing, there remains a need to make devices which are time efficient, consume less space, and are easy to use.
The use of steam to deodorize and dewrinkle clothing is well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,961 discloses a clothing treating machine comprising a steam generator located in the lower region of the fabrics housing; a fan and heating means are also provided to deliver hot air and/or ambient air into the interior of the device. Furthermore, weighted clamps and inflatable hangers can be used to assist in the removal of wrinkles. Devices of this type, however, have been found to have many drawbacks. The device typically heats a volume of water to boiling point, thereby generating steam. Heating the water to boiling point requires a considerable amount of energy and heat. Further, the heating device used by the apparatus requires a certain amount of time to reach the temperature required to heat the water to boiling temperature. Typically, the device does not activate the heating element until the user inserts clothing and turns the device on. This process typically takes an unacceptable amount of time. If the device were to continually heat a volume of water at or near boiling point, the amount of time needed to generate and circulate the steam within the device could be reduced. This option, however, is costly in terms of energy consumption. Additional techniques of using steam to deliver a fabric care composition onto the fabrics have also been attempted. Many fabric care compositions, however, are not suitable for being delivered onto fabrics via steam for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to difficulty in being vaporized into the steam, long evaporation times, heating element fouling and low rate of deposition onto the fabrics.
Another type of fabric treating device which distributes fluids, such as water and/or chemical compositions, onto the fabrics by misting within the device or distributing the fluid directly onto the fabrics. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,346 to Chen et al. distributes a chemical composition onto the fabrics in an allegedly “controlled manner” by generating a mist from a reservoir containing said chemical composition and circulating it within the device such that the fabric becomes purportedly “uniformly distributed”. The chemical composition is dispensed within the cabinet interior region by combining it with the air stream under pressure provided by the compressor and passing it through the atomization nozzle. One known problem with this approach is that the mist may undesirably collect unevenly at certain portions of the fabrics depending on the flow of air within the device. Another problem is that the device may take an undesirably long amount of time to sufficiently wet the fabrics as the mist circulating within the device is difficult to control and direct onto the fabrics within the device.
Yet another type of fabric treating device involves the use of ultrasonic nebulizers to distribute the fluids onto the fabrics are known. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,726,186 to Gaaloul et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,137 Jonsson et al. One problem with the use of ultrasonic nebulizers is that the ultrasonic nebulizers can become contaminated from contact with the treatment composition, thereby causing build-up on the spraying or misting portion of the ultrasonic nebulizer. Solutions to this problem include protective liquid or gel medium and a covering membrane but membranes are prone to be soft and easy to break making the approach using ultrasonic nebulizers has been found to offer limited usefulness. Another drawback to ultrasonic nebulizers is that the ultrasonic nebulizers are typically designed for low flow rates, such as low as 2 grams of fluid/minute per nebulizer head. Increasing the flow rates has been found to be problematic as increased flow through the nebulizer could result in insufficient fluid distribution. Further, the known techniques of distributing fluid via ultrasonic nebulizer have provided limited control. Also, these devices frequently have droplet coalescence which can impede the distribution when the ultrasonic nebulizer is positioned at the top of the device dispensing down onto the fabrics, and/or at the bottom of the device to dispense and/or mist upwards onto the fabrics. Another problem with top down and bottom up techniques is that they tend not to uniformly wet the fabrics, instead focusing mainly on the top or bottoms of the fabrics. Additional complex air circulation techniques are typically necessary to address these problems.
The placement of sprayer heads in a perpendicular orientation to the plane of the fabrics has also been attempted. One problem with this approach is that the fabrics should be a certain distance away from the sprayer heads such that the fluid can be properly dispersed and not excessively concentrated on one spot as the spray occurs. Excessively wide devices raise a new set of problems as space efficiency is an important factor when the device is used in a domestic setting. One approach has been to position the sprayer heads on only one wall of the device such that they spray one side of the fabrics. The distribution of fluid, however, will be undesirably rich on one side of the fabrics where the sprayer is and poor on the opposite side.
Another problem related to these devices is that the way the device is opened to allow the user to access the area to hang or place the clothing. Devices which include a swinging door opening have a wide footprint and also require a large amount of space to allow the device to be accessed and used.
Despite these and other attempts to provide fabric refreshing devices, there remains a need for a device which addresses one or more of the above problems mentioned herein, yet is sufficiently time and energy efficient, minimizes space consumption, and is user friendly.